The Environmental Stewardship Initiative is a recognition program developed by Compliance & Enforcement for use by all NJDEP programs that conduct compliance assurance inspections. The goal of this initiative is to encourage regulated entities to improve their environmental performance beyond the minimum requirements of existing rules & regulations. The program is broad in scope and covers a diverse spectrum of environmental stewardship and sustainable related practices. The intent is to showcase the achievements of members of the regulated community and serve as an information resource to encourage others to follow.

Our goal is to encourage the regulated community to evaluate their current operations and consider incorporating stewardship initiatives wherever possible.

Background

As of January 2008, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) initiated a recognition program to highlight Environmental Stewardship as part of its compliance assurance efforts. This initiative will be available to members of the regulated community who have implemented regulatory requirements and result in increased benefits to the environment. Often during compliance visits inspectors will observe improvements at a facility that exceed the regulatory requirements. In the past there has not been a way to recognize the efforts of these environmentally proactive businesses.

The Environmental Stewardship Initiative is a voluntary program that utilizes existing Department infrastructure and personnel to capture information during routine enforcement inspections. Recognition will be given to members of the regulated community who are engaging in positive activities that benefit the environment. Sites may achieve recognition in 21 different stewardship categories defined in a 23 question checklist.